Wake Up Call: Report Says US Soccer Federation CLO Ignored Abuse

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• King & Spalding’s report for the US Soccer Federation alleges the federation’s former chief legal and compliance officer, Lydia Wahlke, was among executives who ignored or minimized women players’ complaints of sexual abuse and misconduct. Wahlke left the federation in 2020. (Corporate Counsel) King & Spalding partner Sally Q. Yates, the former US acting attorney general, led an all-women team of attorneys in a one year independent investigation into allegations of abuse and misconduct in women’s professional soccer. (WaPo)
• BakerHostetler and one of its Washington-based attorneys are facing allegations they abetted or concealed an insurance fraud scheme by the firm’s bankrupt ex-client Alliance Health. The firm was hit with a $100 million fraud lawsuit last week in Houston federal court by the liquidation trustee for Alliance Health. A New Jersey court ruled that a BakerHostetler partner must face related fraud claims brought by pharmaceutical giant Roche. (Reuters)
• Yale Law School and Latham & Watkins announced a “scholars launchpad” program to help underrepresented students apply to law school. (Latham & Watkins)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Elite UK firms Linklaters and Allen & Overy have lost over a hundred lawyers each to rival London firms in the past five years, as big US firms Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and White & Case lured local talent with high compensation, a report says. (Financial News)
• New UK sanctions that spell out the types of legal services law firms are barred from providing to Russian clients could backfire by establishing which services are still permitted, a law firm’s international trade practice chief said. (OilPrice.com)
• Bob Dylan’s Gibson Dunn legal team is seeking a $50,000 fine plus repayment of his legal fees against the lawyers who unsuccessfully accused the singer of sexually abusing a child in 1965. (Billboard)
• A defendant charged in federal authorities’ criminal fraud case over a so-called $100 million New Jersey deli reportedly hired a lawyer who represented “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli. (CNBC.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Former White House senior counsel Dana Remus, who was assistant to President Joe Biden, joined Covington & Burling as a partner in its congressional investigations, white collar defense and investigations, public policy, and election and political law practices. (Cov.com)
• Norton Rose Fulbright named Australian partner Scott Atkins global co-head of financial restructuring and insolvency, alongside the practice’s current head, New York area-based partner Howard Seife. (Norton Rose Fulbright)
• DLA Piper picked up Williams & Connolly litigation counsel David Horniak as a partner in Washington. (DLA Piper)
• ArentFox Schiff said Venable e-commerce, data privacy and cybersecurity attorney D. Reed Freeman Jr., who worked at the firm earlier in his career, returned as a partner in Washington. According to his LinkedIn profile, Freeman, a former Federal Trade Commission staff attorney who advises on FTC defense, also spent time at WilmerHale as a partner and co-chair of that firm’s cybersecurity, privacy, and communications practice group. (AFSLaw.com)
• In California, Goodwin grabbed technology counsel Jia Jia Huang from Latham & Watkins as a partner in Los Angeles. Goodwin got Motive Technologies, Inc. employment lead counsel Meg Thering as a partner in San Francisco. (GoodwinLaw.com)
• In Hong Kong, K&L Gates brought in Linklaters capital markets partner Iris Leung as a corporate and capital markets partner. (KL Gates)

Technology

• Case Works, LLC, provider of tech-enabled litigation support solutions, hired former Lanier Law Firm attorney William H. “Bill” Barfield as chief revenue officer and general counsel. (CityBiz.com)
• Cameroon-based corporate lawyer and angel investor Serge Ntamack, who spent 15 years as compliance and legal affairs attorney for Microsoft in the Middle East and Africa, is now advising tech startups. (Techpoint Africa)